.jpg/2000px-Attwood_House_(8668929780).jpg)
Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Public housing in the United Kingdom
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Dwellings built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s, non-profit housing associations (HA) became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used — as technically, council housing only refers to properties owned by a local authority — as this embraces both council and HA properties, though the terms are largely used interchangeably.
Before 1865, housing for the poor was provided solely by the private sector. Council houses were then built on council estates — known as schemes in Scotland — where other amenities, like schools and shops, were often also provided. From the 1950s, alongside large developments of terraced and semi-detached housing, blocks of low-rise blocks of flats and maisonettes were widely built. By the 1960s, the emphasis on construction changed to high-rise tower blocks, which carried on to a much lesser degree in the early 1970s. The 1970s saw a switch back to houses, these mainly being detached and semi-detached, as the large-scale council housing expansion came to a halt by the 1980s.
Council houses and flats were often built in mixed estates as part of the transfer to public sector redevelopment following the slum clearances of the private rented back-to-backs of the inner city, along with the large number of overspill estates vastly expanding the outskirts of all cities into the surrounding rural countryside. Council housing was core to the three waves of development in 20th-century of the new town movement of urbanisation — with places such as:
Council homes were built to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at reasonable rents to primarily working-class people. Council housing in the mid-20th century included many large suburban council estates, featuring terraced and semi-detached houses, where other amenities like schools and shops were often also provided. By the late 1970s, almost a third of UK households lived in social housing.
Since 1979 council housing stock has been sold to private occupiers under the Right to Buy legislation, and new social housing has mainly been developed and managed by housing associations. A substantial part of the UK population still lives in council housing; in 2024, about 17% of UK households. Approximately 55% of the country's social housing stock is owned by local authorities. Increasingly the stock is managed on a day-to-day basis by arms-length management organisations rather than directly by the authority, and by housing associations.
Public housing became needed to provide "homes fit for heroes" in 1919, then to enable slum clearance. Standards were set to ensure high-quality homes, with the 'garden suburb' model predominating, with its emphasis on low density housing with domestic gardens and lots of green space. Aneurin Bevan, a Labour politician, passionately believed that council houses should be provided for all, while the Conservative politician Harold Macmillan saw council housing "as a stepping stone to home ownership". The Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher introduced Right to Buy in 1979, with the millionth council house being sold within seven years. In time, the transfer of public housing stock to private ownership reached the point where councils had to rent back their own houses to house the homeless.
Even in the stable medieval model of landowner and peasant, where estate workers lived at the landowner's whim in a tied cottage, the aged and infirm needed provision from their former employer, the church or the state.
The documented history of social housing in Britain starts with almshouses, which were established from the 10th century, to provide a place of residence for "poor, old and distressed folk". The first recorded almshouse was founded in York by King Æthelstan; the oldest still in existence is the Hospital of St. Cross in Winchester, dating to c. 1133.
Hub AI
Public housing in the United Kingdom AI simulator
(@Public housing in the United Kingdom_simulator)
Public housing in the United Kingdom
Public housing in the United Kingdom, also known as council housing or social housing, provided the majority of rented accommodation until 2011, when the number of households in private rental housing surpassed the number in social housing. Dwellings built for public or social housing use are built by or for local authorities and known as council houses. Since the 1980s, non-profit housing associations (HA) became more important and subsequently the term "social housing" became widely used — as technically, council housing only refers to properties owned by a local authority — as this embraces both council and HA properties, though the terms are largely used interchangeably.
Before 1865, housing for the poor was provided solely by the private sector. Council houses were then built on council estates — known as schemes in Scotland — where other amenities, like schools and shops, were often also provided. From the 1950s, alongside large developments of terraced and semi-detached housing, blocks of low-rise blocks of flats and maisonettes were widely built. By the 1960s, the emphasis on construction changed to high-rise tower blocks, which carried on to a much lesser degree in the early 1970s. The 1970s saw a switch back to houses, these mainly being detached and semi-detached, as the large-scale council housing expansion came to a halt by the 1980s.
Council houses and flats were often built in mixed estates as part of the transfer to public sector redevelopment following the slum clearances of the private rented back-to-backs of the inner city, along with the large number of overspill estates vastly expanding the outskirts of all cities into the surrounding rural countryside. Council housing was core to the three waves of development in 20th-century of the new town movement of urbanisation — with places such as:
Council homes were built to supply uncrowded, well-built homes on secure tenancies at reasonable rents to primarily working-class people. Council housing in the mid-20th century included many large suburban council estates, featuring terraced and semi-detached houses, where other amenities like schools and shops were often also provided. By the late 1970s, almost a third of UK households lived in social housing.
Since 1979 council housing stock has been sold to private occupiers under the Right to Buy legislation, and new social housing has mainly been developed and managed by housing associations. A substantial part of the UK population still lives in council housing; in 2024, about 17% of UK households. Approximately 55% of the country's social housing stock is owned by local authorities. Increasingly the stock is managed on a day-to-day basis by arms-length management organisations rather than directly by the authority, and by housing associations.
Public housing became needed to provide "homes fit for heroes" in 1919, then to enable slum clearance. Standards were set to ensure high-quality homes, with the 'garden suburb' model predominating, with its emphasis on low density housing with domestic gardens and lots of green space. Aneurin Bevan, a Labour politician, passionately believed that council houses should be provided for all, while the Conservative politician Harold Macmillan saw council housing "as a stepping stone to home ownership". The Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher introduced Right to Buy in 1979, with the millionth council house being sold within seven years. In time, the transfer of public housing stock to private ownership reached the point where councils had to rent back their own houses to house the homeless.
Even in the stable medieval model of landowner and peasant, where estate workers lived at the landowner's whim in a tied cottage, the aged and infirm needed provision from their former employer, the church or the state.
The documented history of social housing in Britain starts with almshouses, which were established from the 10th century, to provide a place of residence for "poor, old and distressed folk". The first recorded almshouse was founded in York by King Æthelstan; the oldest still in existence is the Hospital of St. Cross in Winchester, dating to c. 1133.